Features

Walter Hale explains why you need to be keeping your eye on the Internet of Things.

Clothes that adjust to the temperature, vacuum cleaners operated by text messages and cars that drive themselves … these are some of the much-hyped innovations that could be spawned by the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT). Yet uber-management consultants McKinsey suggest that the media have misunderstood this revolution. Innovations aimed at the consumer generate plenty of headlines, but they argue that the IoT could have a more profound impact in the B2B world, where it will rewrite the rules of competition, create new business models, and transform the way companies use technology. To take one example relevant to wide-format printing, every printer could be fitted with sensors that predict when maintenance will be required and analyse workflows to improve efficiency. We’re starting to see the beginnings of it, but before we look too far ahead, let’s take a step back.

Mutoh is targeting this entry-level LED UV printer at the quality end of the market, but how well does it do in our test? Nessan Cleary investigates.

The ValueJet 1626UH is a 1.6m wide UV hybrid printer, designed to produce high quality prints for entry level volume printers, as well as prototypes for packaging. It uses LED curing and so Mutoh has marketed it as a speciality and industrial printer, to distinguish it from its range of solvent printers, which are also called ValueJets. It takes a standard range of media, including vinyl, canvas and wallpaper, as well as most rigid media up to 15mm thick, and up to 15kg in weight.

This summer Image Reports brought together four PSPs and four creatives to discuss how best to exploit the opportunities offered by large-format digital print. The upshot is the following message to market…

Steve Hallett
MD, Repropoint
http://www.repropoint.com

What’s having the greatest impact on your business at the moment?

Our strategy to use traditional selling tactics combined with targeted marketing. It’s all about the personal touch, adding value through consultation and relationships. It is rewarding for our business, customers and our staff.

Fujifilm recently announced that it had gained Nordic Ecolabel certification for its Uvijet UV inks. But this is much more than an environmental tick box exercise; it’s about corporate responsibility. So does that matter to you?

How much do your suppliers’ CSR programmes matter to you? The recent announcement by Fujifilm that it has received Nordic Ecolabel certification for inks within its Uvijet range has prompted the question not only because it’s a move that in itself is significant, but because of what it says about the company’s overall CSR vision. And what that in turn suggests about the need for others to be more proactive.

As Head of PR for Contra Vision Jo Bentley understands the demands of the print and graphics business, and as a qualified mindfulness trainer she also knows techniques for combating workplace stress. Here’s her advice.

Talk about making a statement! In June, Surrey-based SignAway, produced a 250m x 5m multi-coloured carpet and laid it the entire length of London Bridge.

For someone who didn’t really want to joint the family print business Mark Simpson has stuck at it longer than his late father and company founder could ever have imagined. It’s 32 years since the man, who since the start of the 1990s been at the helm of the Simpson Group in Washington, Tyne and Wear, first joined what was then Simpson Print.

Large-format print companies could enjoy greater success through collaboration and an open approach to research and development argues Nathan Atkins, managing director of Papergraphics.

At Drupa 2012 design guru David Bartlett launched a range of inkjet printable cardboard furniture under the BrandIt label. Demand is growing from end users, but print licensees are not shifting in the UK. Could it be your new revenue stream?

Cardboard is becoming extremely popular as a cost effective quick branding solution for pop-up shops, POS products and event branding. And if you visited the Printeriors section of Fespa 2015 you will have seen for yourself the possibilities now offered via cardboard BrandIt Furniture, a range of over 50 inkjet printable products that are gaining traction with end users – but not it seems, as yet with UK printers!

Web-to-print is get to gain a real foothold in the digital wide-format space despite print buyers wanting to use it. John Taylor considers the issues.

Have the cyber criminals got to you yet? Perhaps not, but that’s no reason to ignore what’s a mounting issue as business writer Walter Hale explains.

Every minute 173 new kinds of viruses are invented. And every three seconds a website somewhere in the world is compromised. The statistics are scary but they also make a useful point. When cyber security hits the headlines it is usually because a government department or a corporate titan like Sony has been compromised. To the managing director of a typical wide-format printer, the risk of their company being targeted by North Korea’s savviest cyber criminals might seem infinitesimal, but the Sony-style attacks are only the well-publicised tip of a very large iceberg.